Topic: steve ballmer

One holiday-shortened week gone, another arrived. Here’s a rundown of the Microsoft-flavored news you missed if you had the good fortune to unplug last week:

The IRS has sued Steve Ballmer and a slate of other current and former Microsoft executives in an effort to get them to testify in a long running tax probe. The agency is looking into how Microsoft treated subsidiaries for tax purposes. Microsoft said it had expected to receive a notice of an increased back tax bill this month. Company lawyers also suggested the subpoenas to executives are part of a campaign to force the company to the negotiating table regarding the taxes it paid between 2004 and 2006.

Microsoft, along with rival Google, agreed to host streaming video of Sony’s “The Interview,” after threats of terrorist attacks spurred some theater chains to pull the film. The online gross for the film’s first four days? $15 million, according to the studio.

Microsoft’s changing of the guard held the spotlight at the company’s shareholders meeting on Wednesday. Chief Executive Satya Nadella and Chairman John Thompson oversaw a scripted affair touting the company’s progress in cloud computing, hopes for the Windows 10 operating system, and efforts to create a more inclusive company. Steve Ballmer, used to spending his time on stage during his 14 years…

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer didn’t feel “completely in charge” of Microsoft until Bill Gates left entirely in 2008. Ballmer felt deeply betrayed by Gates when Gates and the rest of Microsoft’s board initially told Ballmer they wouldn’t approve a Microsoft purchase of Nokia. Current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had his top execs read something called “Nonviolent Communication.”

Those are some of the tidbits in an engrossing Vanity Fair article out now that looks at the breakdown of the relationship between Gates and Ballmer, some of their major missteps, and what the company is attempting to do now under Nadella.

Bill Gates, Satya Nadella and Steve Ballmer speak to employees at a company rally in February when Nadella was introduced as Microsoft’s new CEO. (Photo from Microsoft)

Newly appointed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, along with Bill Gates, were among those initially opposed to former CEO Steve Ballmer’s proposal to acquire Nokia’s handset business, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report today looking behind the scenes at what led to the eventual $7.2 billion acquisition.

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Welcome to Microsoft Pri0: That's Microspeak for top priority, and that's the news and observations you'll find here from Seattle Times technology reporter Matt Day. Send tips or comments to mday@seattletimes.com.